


land and sea

by ashtonxrwin (parkwaybeth)



Series: the sense8 au's we all need [1]
Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, bluski fluff, group chat au, i love aus, online friends au, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 09:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4133211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkwaybeth/pseuds/ashtonxrwin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>will opens an online chatroom and meets some different people</p>
<p>or, the online friends au we all wanted</p>
            </blockquote>





	land and sea

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first part of a series of sense8 au's i'm going to write - honestly, i have so many ideas that HAVE to be written that they'll probably all be out in a week.
> 
> this is bluski through and through but also kinda cluster fam feels because everyone loves cluster fam feels even when they're not technically in a cluster but instead, on the internet.

Riley’s laptop is a permanent fixture in her life; whether she’s at the club, at college or in the park, it’s always there, her fingers typing words faster than she could write them - which is why it made so much sense for her to have more friends inside the screen than she has outside of it, and why she spends so much time giggling at the words that appear on it from halfway across the world.

She’d actually never meant to become so completely ensnared by those  7 people; there’d been an advert for an anonymous chatroom on the side of Spotify that she’d only clicked on to mock the inevitable sad humans that spend time on such sites, and she’d certainly never meant to enter a chat with such a laughably stereotypical name – “Bored as fuck”.

So maybe the curiosity of what kind of people roamed the darker corners of the internet overcame her and maybe she liked how witty ‘Gorski25’ and ‘NomiTheHacker’ were when she posted her first message and maybe she was sucked into ‘KalaCutie’’ adorably 2000’s way of typing. It wasn’t hurting anyone, it was anonymous and none  of them even lived in the same country as her so nothing she said could be held against her. It was fun, required minimal effort and allowed her an outlet for all the building frustrations she had over her drug-riddled friends and lack of gigs.

It was harmless fun and would never lead to anything serious – right?

\---------

Wolfgang joined the chat because he was just that – bored as fuck. The shop was empty, Felix was down with the flu and there had been no further opportunities to make Steiner look like a twat, so what was a better way to pass the time than some online fun?

The original premise _had_ been to find a more NSFW chat than the one he ended up in, but the 3 he found before that were disappointing and tacky which led him to looking for a more topical environment. Admittedly, ‘bored as fuck’ didn’t immediately boast opinionated discussions and intellectual conversations but it was better than “..can I call you daddy?” and the awkward conversation starters in the raunchier chats.

And yes, the colourful characters he came across were endearing and he did find himself logging in the very next day and yes, it was his idea to make their conversation into a private one and he _was_ the first to give out his personal number – but that was semantics, right?

\--------

Sun had been looking through Joong-Ki’s internet history for any evidence that could help her prove to her father that her brother was, indeed, an embezzling moron when she came across a link to the site. The chat he’d accessed was of a more porn-led variety than she was interested in, so she had noted down the website and opened it when she was back in the comfort of her apartment.

‘Bored as fuck’ didn’t exactly appeal to her immediately but after finding numerous chats filled with either 13-year-old ‘trolls’ or 80-year-old creeps, it seemed that it was the only sane and genuine one on the entire site.

In the days that followed first introducing herself to the few members on the chat, she found herself longing for the comfort of a normal conversation through her entire day, and opening the lid of her laptop was an exciting premise. And yes, she does smile while typing and she does laugh out loud whenever ‘VanDamn’ asks ‘NomiTheHacker’ to explain, once again, why she does what she does and what she used to be and what she is now because after all, how many times does she need to say it? And it’s not bad, it’s not harmful, it doesn’t hurt and is entirely anonymous so where was the downside?

\--------

Kala heard about the site through her loud, giggly friends who were telling each other _all about_ the boys they’d talked to and the dirty things they’d unwillingly seen, and although she wasn’t at _all_ interested in the sexual aspect of anonymous group chats, she could do with a place to push her issues onto. It would be nice to tell people about her worries about Rajan without a judgmental backlash.

That was what it started as but soon she was chatting daily to each and every one of them, and she had no qualms following ‘GangWolf’’s lead and sharing more personal details because she trusted these people completely – she trusted these people more than anyone she knew in real life and though that was dangerous and anyone with a brain would scold her, she revelled in the comfort and familiarity of all these people from different backgrounds, different sexualities, different lives.

\--------

It was an obvious choice for Nomi; she’d spent her teens and twenties in hacking based group chats, plotting break-ins and ways to publicise Pride messages to a wider audience. The switch from those  to a genuine conversation platform, though, was new – and the details of her life she shared with these newfound friends was based on a genuine connection she’d found.

She partook in philosophical debates with ‘Van Damn’, ‘GangWolf’ and ‘Gorski25’, gave ‘RileyBlu’ the help she needed to move away from her more difficult friends and found plenty common ground with the strangely named ‘LitoRodXO’ – but everyone there was an entirely positive addition to her life and helped her just as much as she helped them.

She thought it strange that she’d spent years upon years on the internet but never met anyone like them; maybe she hadn’t been looking in the right place.

\--------

Lito was absolutely, one hundred percent looking for sex. He and Fernando had been looking for different ways to ‘spice up’ the bedroom and what better way than to bring in a clueless, anonymous third party?

But after the first time, he found himself getting painfully jealous of this faceless person on the other side of a computer as Fernando typed all  kinds of sexual messages to them, and had slammed the lid of the computer down after only 10 minutes of ‘fun’ – Fernando merely chuckled and commented on the irony of the jealousy.

He found himself pulled back a week later, browsing the categories and perusing the range of people that used the site but only clicked on ‘bored as fuck’ out of sheer interest – like Riley, he never expected  to be sucked in to their endearing ways and interesting discussions, but months later and here he is, still engaging and chatting each day.

\-----------

It’s more difficult for Capheus as he doesn’t have the access the rest of them do, but for his friends he can make it work; he heads to the nearest library with access to the internet and sits for hours, enjoying the companionship and comfort they bring him from wherever it is they live.

Although he’s not always there, not constantly chatting as ‘RileyBlu’ and ‘Gorksi25’ do, they know he would be if he could, and even though he can’t he tries his hardest and that’s enough.

\----------

It was, of course, Will who started it off. With constant access to the internet and not a whole lot of work to be doing, an online chatting platform was the perfect remedy to boredom; he signed himself up, started a chat and sat back and waited for someone else to sympathise with his issues. Within the hour he had 3 people to chat to and a day later a whole 7 other bored 20-somethings were introducing themselves and learning about each other.

He wasn’t smug, or even proud that he’d started the platform that these people had found friends over; he was just happy he’d found people too.

\----------

Riley sits on her rock, smoking her pipe with one hand and typing a reply with the other. **_“No, he left yesterday - I think I scared him off, perhaps? I’m probably more intimidating than I think I am”_** she writes in response to Nomi enquiring about Shugs’ whereabouts. She adds a smiley face with a nose – because she knows how Will hates it – to show that she’s not _entirely_ serious, but is honestly quite.

Lito interjects his own opinion (“I really do not see how anyone could think of you as scary when I have always pictured you as a kitten behind a computer”) and she laughs out loud before checking that there’s no one around her to hear how strange she seems then searches on the screen for the default cat emoticon and clicks send.

She thinks about how much but how little she knows about them all; she knows that Lito is an actor in a few Telenovelas yet doesn’t even know his full last name; knows that Wolfgang is German and his best friend’s name is Felix yet he never tells them what he does on the weekend; knows that Will is-

Well, actually, she knows everything there is to know about Will. He’s an open book, clear cut and concise and sweet and smart and so easy to talk to – he can speak for hours about how little he has done at work and manages to make the entire thing seem exciting when all he describes is photocopying some papers. He makes her feel entirely comfortable yet she doesn’t know what he looks like or how his voice sounds or how tall he is. Will is the imaginary warm body she needs yet she knows how impossible her small crush on him is, but it doesn’t stop her subtly flirting over the internet even when Capheus, with his innocent view on everything, calls her out on ‘liking the boy’.

But, as always, it’s harmless and stupid and nothing will ever come from it.

\---------

Kala had spent weeks explaining her difficult situation to the many different people in the chat and although the issue hasn’t subsided, she feels so much calmer about it whenever her family bring Rajan up. She knows this strange sense of comfort is to do with Nomi’s wise words and Sun’s straight-up advice (“At the risk of being a cliché, tell him and your family what you feel and what you want or else you will be stuck in a loveless marriage for life and I can assure you, it will not be as the movies show it.”) and Riley’s kind comments and compliments.

As much as she tries to swallow it, she also knows that it has to do with Wolfgang’s strange manner of talking to her, so sweet and caring while being brisk and concise. It’s even to do with his sexual comments – often directed at her - which sound so rude to her ears but just make everyone else giggle at her awkward manner of dealing with the embarrassment.

She loves that they’ve bonded over everything and nothing, learning to discuss anything from the movies out in the cinema to what they all ate for dinner. There hasn’t been a dull moment, there is never any awkward silences and definitely never any quiet phases – after all, they can go from talking about how interesting or how uninteresting their days have been to Riley’s frustrations over British politics to the more serious issues; Capheus’ heartache over his mother, Sun’s family problems, and Nomi’s offhand comments about how difficult her past has been.

Kala finds it amazing that such a wide variety of people from so many different lives can be united over the simplest things, and how Riley and Will, though so privileged, can be so understanding over Capheus’ problems, then how easily Sun can talk to Lito and Nomi about sexuality even from a purely heterosexual background.

She knows that although the chat is trivial and that there is always a possibility it may be based on lies, it has helped her through her darkest times and allowed her to make _such_ close friends – whether that be for better or for worse, she still does not know.

\---------

Will absentmindedly wonders if Diego has managed to link the strange smiles to the quiet notification noise his computer makes whenever he gets a new message. And if he has, why hasn’t he confronted Will with some half thought-through theory about the dangers of online dating and ‘why haven’t you introduced me to this la-day?’.

He knows Diego wouldn’t understand because Diego doesn’t rely on support – he relies on people, on conversations, on short relationships. Will relies on long chats through the night, on friendships formed through common interests and worries and long-term relationships – all of which are embodied in what used to be ‘Bored as fuck’ but is now ‘Gang of 8’ (a historical reference that Nomi suggested when they were trying desperately to think of a new name).

Even though he started the chat as a cure to boredom at work, it had become so much more – when everyone says ‘goodbye’ or ‘goodnight’, depending on time zones, he lies awake and wonders what would happen if no one was there tomorrow – he’d never thought of himself as co-dependent but he spends so much time talking to these people – his friends – that he doesn’t know how he’d survive if he couldn’t communicate with them.

They talk about everything and nothing and they’re so close but so not because he knows everything but doesn’t know half of it. He feels like he know Riley inside and out, knows about her drug problems and her terrible friends and when Nyx threatened her and how she misses Iceland, and even fucking knows that she lost her husband and child and how much that hurts her every day, yet he doesn’t know how her hand would feel pressed to his and how warm – or cold? – she’d feel lying beside him. Doesn’t know what she’d be like to kiss – wild, hot or soft and caring? – and doesn’t know if she’s even interested in him or if he’s flogging a dead horse and when he thinks about it like that he’s so doubtful because what if when she sees him she runs away, if she’d never want to be with him?

He’s Will Gorski, he’s cool and collected. He’s a shoulder to cry on and someone to talk to, he knows because that’s what Kala tells him. Wolfgang says he’s a pussy but it’s all in good taste and when everyone else was asleep one time the German told him he was happy they’d ‘met’,  and there’s Nomi who always compliments him on his practicality, even when he lets his emotions get the better of him. He’s Will Gorski and he shouldn’t doubt himself.

His computer ‘pings’ again and he looks at the words that are there with baited breath and his tongue goes dry.

**_“If anyone’s interested, I might not be online for a few days. I have to go to Iceland to see my father and there isn’t a lot of Internet there, but anyone who needs me can call me or text me?”_ **

It’s Riley and she’s leaving. There’s a number below the message and a few seconds later a couple of messages pour in wishing her the best on her travels and telling her to take as long as she needs.

(It’s so selfish but he can’t help it and he wishes she wasn’t going so she could stay with him even though she’s not even there.)

Will notes the number down on the pad by his laptop and prays to god he doesn’t forget it because he doesn’t even want to go the night without at least being able to contact her.

A notification pops up telling them that “RileyBlu has logged out” and his heart aches a little bit too much to be normal.

\----------

It’s her second day in Iceland and she’s been to every café, library and hotspot she can think of with her trusty laptop and has yet to find Internet. She feels like the addict she used to be, aching for that rush she got whenever she used – yet this time, the drug is the internet and the rush is a little bit of conversation.

Riley explains it to her dad and he doesn’t understand – “friends… online?” – and she asks Sven if he has any wi-fi and he tells her he has no need for it then asks why she wants it so badly and she skips the explanation.

She wishes she’d saved Wolfgang and Kala’s numbers when they’d sent them over but she hadn’t thought she’d ever need to contact any of them outside of the chat because, after all, she’s strong and independent. But here she is, relying on the companionship of people miles away on the other half of the globe with no way to contact them.

It’s later that day when her phone buzzes beside her as she sits drinking coffee – black, of course – in the kitchen.

_Not sure if this is even going to reach you – is there reception in Iceland? But if it does, send me a message back, we miss you._

Riley curses the way she pictures who she wishes sent the text (even though he doesn’t even have a face) and resigns herself to believing it’s Shugs or someone like that.

_It’s Iceland, not the Dark Ages. Who is this?_

She wonders why Shugs would be messaging her – he knew she’d gone to Iceland but he definitely wasn’t the sort to randomly show emotion and tell her he ‘misses’ her. That would be wildly out of character. But then again, who could be contacting her that knew where she was?

_Shit, forgot about that. It’s Will:)_

Her heart misses its cue and stops beating for a second as she takes in the message before her. She remembers the message she’d sent a few days earlier, letting the group know where she was going and why she may not be replying but she hadn’t thought anyone would actually contact her – especially Will. The smiley face by his name makes her laugh silently as she ponders on an apt response.

_Nimwit. What’s up? What time is it in the States?? It’s afternoon here, shouldn’t you be asleep or something??? :-)_

She hopes he’ll understand her emoticon since she remembers all the times he’s complained about the nose she adds – for a second, she wonders if maybe he doesn’t and he’ll just think she’s strange and the reference will be lost on him, and she wishes she could unsend the message.

_Yeah, it’s 3am here but I was thinking about you and you’re obviously not online so I thought this was a good alternative. :----)_

She barely notices that he _had_ understood her joke as the words ‘I was thinking about you’ spin around her mind. He was thinking about her – what did that even mean?  Thinking as in she was on his mind like what he’s having for dinner or what papers he needs to fill out by tomorrow? Thinking as in how she thinks about him?

_Thinking, huh? I’d agree._

Riley’s hand shakes as she reaches for her coffee – she’s disappointed in herself slightly because a boy,  one sweet American boy, has caused her flutter in ways it hasn’t for years. A boy – a man? – has led her to anxiously biting around her nails as she waits for a reply with her tongue in her cheek and her pulse racing and that’s not good but emotion leads to bad things, emotion leads to hurt.

_Yeah, thinking. Is that weird? If it’s weird we don’t have to like talk but yeah, thinking of you. About you? Sorry_

It sounds so questioning. She can imagine what he’d sound like speaking the words on the screen of her phone, doubtful and stuttering slightly and correcting himself lots – she thinks it’s adorable that he corrected himself over a text message without even deleting the thing he typed first. Riley thinks he’d brush his hand through his hair and stare at the floor before slowly lifting his eyes to hers if they were having this conversation face to face.

_No, please. I like talking, I just wondered what you meant by thinking._

After she sends it, she wonders if she sounds too blunt – he’s so kind and soft over messages and she’s so short and quick, straight to the point.

_Idk, thinking as in ever since you sent that message to the group I’ve been worried about you. Worried and thinking, if that makes any sense._

It doesn’t but it does and her heart nearly stops dead when he tells her he’s been worrying  - that means he _cares_ , the emotional side of her brain tells her. He _cares_ about you.

_Why would you be worried?? I’m fine, my dad’s fine, everything’s fine. I miss you_

She hates how weak she feels when she changes the last part to ‘ _I miss you **guys’**. _ She’s so incapable of coming clean about her feelings, the fear of rejection overshadowing her desire to hear him say the words she wants him to.

_Worried because you’re my friend. We miss you too, me especially._

The cup of coffee nearly falls off the table as she drops the phone down – it’s so overdramatic, how she’s reacting to it but it’s so completely overwhelming to hear him say words that sounds so much like how she feels too.

_You do? I miss you. Is that weird?_

She repeats his words from earlier back to him, her heart in her throat as she impatiently waits for a reply. She wonders if this is too quick, too sudden. They’ve only been talking for a few months but then again, a few months is enough to get to know someone and he knows everything about her, and likewise, and isn’t that enough to be saying these things.

_No, it’s really not. You’re always on my mind at the moment, it’s something about you._

‘You’re always on my mind too!’ she wants to scream, shout from the rooftops, shout from his rooftop, shout in his apartment. Yes, that’s what she wants, she wants to be with him in the flesh, wants to see his face and touch his skin and have him comfort her physically like he’s been doing over the internet for so long.

_Trust me, it’s the same for me. I wish I could see you._

When he replies with an agreement, her mind is made up.

\--------

The flight touches down and she feels so completely warm. Somehow she realises she’s packed for completely the wrong weather and is probably going to be completely sweaty for the entirety of this trip and she’ll look like an idiot and Will is going to-

She cuts off that particular train of thought and fills her mind with thoughts of where she’s actually going to spend her time in Chicago, where she’s going to sleep and, most importantly, how the fuck she’s going to find Will. Her plan to surprise him, which had been sponsored by her father and Sven after she explained her situation and their eyes shone with happiness and pride (“I’m so glad you’re finally moving- no, not moving on, but looking- no, not looking either, er-“) was extremely flawed and incomplete. For a start, she has no accommodation booked, no subtle way of finding out a, where he lives or b, where he works – not to mention the huge suitcase full of everything she needed for Iceland but definitely did not need for Chicago.

Riley walks out of the airport and takes in the blazing heat of the sun on her shockingly pale skin and feels incredibly out of place with black jeans, a thick skirt and her ever trusty headphones. The people around her are most certainly dressed for the weather and she is most certainly not.

Spotting a customer service shack right by the airport, obviously targeted at tourists like her that have no idea what they’re doing, she walks in and sets her oversized suitcase next to her before clearing her throat. The man at the desk spins around and shoots her a wide grin – with teeth – that borderline shocks her; people in Iceland are mildly friendly but people in London are definitely not.

“What can I do for ‘ya?” he asks with a rich Chicago accent.

“Erm,” she begins, biting her lip nervously, “How many police stations are there nearby?” The question sounds so stupid, she knows, but he doesn’t mock her, only smiles in amusement and crinkles his eyes.

“Just the one, the Chicago Police Department,” he tells her, “How many were you expectin’?”

There’s the mock, she notes, but it’s good-natured, not at all mean or judgmental. “I’m not entirely sure. I’m looking for someone who works there, you see, but I didn’t know, well, which one? If there’s just one he  must work there, I assume, so thank you, you’ve been very helpful.”

He laughs as she turns on her heel nervously, lifting the handle of the suitcase. “Good luck in finding him,” the man tells her, “It’s tiny so it can’t be that difficult.”

She breathes a silent sigh of relief at the admission; she had been worried she’d get to the station and find that it is 7 stories high with hundreds of departments and she’d never find him and therefore be stuck in Chicago with nowhere to go.

“Do you want a map?” he asks, just as she’s about to open the door. Riley spins once again, laughing slightly and takes the offered leaflet, sharing a smile with him.

“That might be a good idea.”

\--------

It was an unbelievably dull day for Will. There’d been no new cases, a ton of paperwork, and worst of all, Riley hadn’t replied to any of his messages. He wasn’t worried, he knew she was travelling back home today so she was probably busy in airports and baggage claim and things. Or at least, that’s what he was telling himself.

Since both their admissions of potential romantic feelings for one another, they’d basically talked nonstop for the rest of her stay in Iceland. Though not many heavy subjects had been broached, they’d discussed how each of their days were going, how glad they were to have met each other and everyone else from the chat and trivial things, like favourite bands and favourite films.

But he wasn’t worried. Of course he wasn’t. She was fine, she’d be home soon and he’d get a “RileyBlu has logged in” notification and everything would return to normal. Normal as in before Iceland, which was good because there was no stress and no worries and he wouldn’t have to think about her being in London and him being in Chicago and there being no plausible chance of them being together.

There’s a knock on his door and Diego sticks his head in. “There’s a chick at reception for you, apparently,” he tells him, taking it Will’s curious expression, “I know, man, I was confused too, but Linda says she’s asking for you and says she needs to speak to you.”

“What does she look like?” Will asks while turning off his computer and putting his gun into his holster.

“Shit, dude, I haven’t been down there. I’m not psychic, I know as much as you know.” Diego tells him, rolling his eyes. Will punches him in the stomach when he passes through the doorway and chuckles and the grunt he gets in response. He takes the stairs because he can’t be bothered to wait for a lift and jumps two at a time, all the possibilities of who it could be filling his mind; he doesn’t exactly have a lot of female _friends_ and doesn’t have any ex-girlfriends he’d expect to see, which left the plausible options very minimal.

Will pushes the door to reception open and takes in the few people scattered throughout the waiting area. There’s an old woman filling out a form, a teenage girl that looks for too young to be here for him and 2 men, but in a chair facing away from him he sees a head of peroxide blonde waves, a set of headphones around her neck.

The hope that fills his heart is quickly shut down – it’s impossible, completely impossible and implausible and not even worth thinking about.

Linda catches sight of him and smiles at the girl, who spins towards her quickly. “Mr Gorski’s here, sweetie,” she tells her, and the girls turns around to face him with wide eyes and her lip between her teeth. Will feels a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows as he takes in her appearance – she’s beautiful in a different kind of way, the sort of beautiful you’d be scared to touch, and she almost looks defensive. Most importantly, he doesn’t recognise her.

She stands and he starts walking towards her to make the gap between them easier to breach. When they’re comfortably close, she opens her mouth and makes a sound between a gasp and a breath.

“Will?” she asks quietly, the name accented. That hope bubbles up again and this time he doesn’t push it down – what if it’s possible, what if she’s-

“Yes,” he replies, cutting off his thoughts, “Can I help you?”

She makes that noise again and this time it’s amused, something like a disbelieving chuckle. It’s such a happy noise and part of him wants to hear it again yet he can’t work out why.

“Well, I was actually hoping you’d magically recognise me but I guess that was kind of impossible, huh?” she comments, that definite accent making him think of her, of Riley. She talks like Riley does over the internet, the same words and the same phrasing and he knows, something inside of him knows that this is-

“Riley?”

Her name is spoken in a half gasp, disbelieving and shocked but so full of hope and aspiration.

The half-smile she gives in response is all the answer he needs and she looks so nervous, as though waiting for him to ask her leave, to throw her out.

“Oh, my god-“ he says before reaching for her waist and pulling her into a hug. She immediately responds, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on tightly – he notices how short she is when she presses her face into the middle of his chest, her nose pressing into the skin there. She’s cold, kind of, but warm too and she’s the perfect mix of everything. Riley’s tiny hands rub against his back and his fingers dig into the shirt she’s wearing although scared that she may disappear.

“Surprise?” she says into his top, the word muffled and quiet but he chuckles loudly and presses his cheek onto her hair, absentmindedly inhaling and smelling _winter,_ just winter and he can feel people’s eyes on them and _fuck_ , Diego’s probably followed him down and he’s going to have to explain everything but for now he’s content with holding her tiny body in his arms and basking in everything she radiates.

\--------

A day later, when they’re completely comfortable together, acting like people who have been friends for years, they’re lying on his bed on their stomachs, hands interwined as they watch the laptop screen before them.

The message “Gorski25 has logged in” pops up and Nomi immediately replies with a welcome message, as well as Kala and Capheus but it’s 5pm in America and he knows this is the time when all of them are always online. **_“Guys, guess what”_** he types, cutting straight to the chase. He’s too excited to even build up suspense, he just wants to show off the beautiful guy lying beside him and tell them that it’s so _possible_ , it really can happen.

Most of them reply with the standard ‘what’ while Wolfgang comments **_“You finally grew some balls and flew to England to be with your one true love”_** and Will and Riley laugh out loud because even though sarcasm flows through the sentence, Wolfgang always was more perceptive than most.

**_“Close”_** Riley types, turning the screen towards her, **_“Any more guesses?”._** When they all reply with variations of ‘no’, she clicks the icon next to the box where a user can type their message and a new window pops up. “Smile,” she tells him, and clicks the ‘take’ button; the standard shutter noise fills the otherwise quiet room, and a picture of the two of them pop up.

Will types his message and clicks send, grinning widely and turning his head to Riley, landing a kiss on her lips.

In 6 other parts of the world, 6 people hear a notification noise and look at their screens, only to see a picture of a beautiful couple and the words, **_“She came to me.”_**


End file.
